‘Hamilton’ Star Leslie Odom Jr. Joins ‘Sopranos’ Prequel ‘Many Saints of Newark’

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Hamilton” star Leslie Odom Jr. has joined “The Many Saints of Newark,” the prequel movie to the television series “The Sopranos.”

Odom Jr. will play an unspecified role in the movie, which will open on

Alan Taylor is directing the movie for New Line. The previously announced cast includes Cory Stoll, Billy Magnussen, Jon Bernthal, Alessandro Nivola, Ray Liotta, John Magaro, Vera Farmiga and Michael Gandolfini as the young Tony Soprano. The film will be set during the Newark riots in July 1967, when the acrimony between African-Americans and Italian-Americans became lethal as 26 people died and hundreds were injured in New Jersey’s largest city.

Series creator David Chase co-wrote the script with producer Lawrence Konner. Plot details are under wraps. Some of the other characters from the series besides Tony Soprano will appear in the movie. Nicole Lambert and Marcus Viscidi are executive producing.

Michael Gandolfini’s late father James Gandolfini originated the role of Tony Soprano on the HBO series, which premiered in 1999 and ran for six seasons. The show explored the dynamics of the fictional head of a New Jersey-based crime family, starting with his attempting to deal with panic attacks by seeing a psychiatrist. The role earned him three Primetime Emmys, one Golden Globe, and three SAG awards. The elder Gandolfini died in 2013 at the age of 51.

Odom Jr. is best-known for his Tony-winning role as Aaron Burr in the Broadway smash “Hamilton.” He also starred in Kenneth Branagh’s “Murder on the Orient Express” and is set to appear in Kasi Lemmons’ upcoming Harriet Tubman biopic, “Harriet.”

Odom, Jr. is repped by Creative Artists Agency, Untitled Entertainment and Jackoway, Austen, Tyerman, Wertheimer, Mandelbaum, Morris, Bernstein, Trattner & Klein. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.